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East Tennessee State University
Department of Computer & Information Sciences
CSCI 4956/5956 Section 011 -- Embedded System Design
First Summer Session, 2003

Last updated 05/18/2003

[ General | Schedule | Grading | Expectations | Other Policies | Attachment ]

Course Number: CSCI 4956/CSCI 5956

Course Title: Embedded System Design

Catalog Description: This course is intended to give students an understanding of the special requirements, architectures, and implementations of embedded systems with a slant toward using the tools that a computer scientist would be familiar with. Data acquisition and control issues are also addressed.

Prerequisite: CSCI 2230 or CSCI 2910, or permission of instructor

Credit: 3 credit hours

Objectives: At the completion of the course, the student will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental principles of embedded system design regarding:

• hardware considerations as they apply to embedded systems;
• the boot process for embedded systems;
• the characteristics and design of real time operating systems;
• interfacing techniques for data acquisition and control;
• embedded system user interfacing; and
• the processes and tools involved in the testing and debugging of embedded systems.

Required text: Practical Linux Programming: Device Drivers, Embedded Systems, and the Internet by Ashfaq A. Khan, copyright 2002 by Charles River Media, Inc. (ISBN: 1-58450-096-4)

Course outline: The course outline is presented below. The instructor has the right to alter the outline at any time due to time constraints, unexpected scheduling conflicts, or overall benefit to class effectiveness.

Grading policy: The table below shows the weights carried by each assignment toward calculating a student's final grade.

The table below presents the translation between a student's total score and their final grade.

Expectations, Attendance, and Participation: Both students and instructors have expectations of one another. Many of these are mutual. Students should expect the instructor to be in class on time, to be prepared, to be attentive to students, to be available to answer questions and to provide help related to the course, and to make a genuine effort to help students achieve the course objectives. On those rare occasions when the instructor must miss class, students should expect suitable arrangements for the class to continue in the instructor's absence. Students should expect the instructor to devote considerable time and effort to the course.

The instructor has similar expectations of students: that students come to class on time, are prepared, are attentive and participate in class, complete class assignments and submit them on time, and make a genuine effort to meet the course objectives. The instructor expects students to devote considerable time and effort to the course.

In the past, students have raised the concern that quizzes and tests do not accurately measure performance. In an effort to compensate for this, a grade for class participation will be given worth one and a half quiz grades. Class participation includes asking questions when the student doesn't understand something, participating in classroom discussion, or presenting show-n-tell type topics. This participation will be a subjective measurement and will be used as a non-test way to evaluate the student's progress.

When you are absent, you are still responsible for material, assignments, and anything else that occurs in class. When you must miss class, you are responsible for finding out what was missed, making sure that any work due that day gets to the instructor prior to class, and getting any assignments or materials handed out during your absence so that you can prepare for the next class. This is a 3-hour course and you should be prepared to spend a minimum of 4-6 hours outside of class for each hour in-class.

Attendance and participation is important; students with poor attendance generally do poorly. Missing material from one class makes it difficult to understand new material and, once behind, it is difficult to catch up. You are encouraged to ask appropriate questions and to participate in class discussions and activities. You may learn as much from one another as from the instructor. If you are confused about some point, chances are that others are also confused and will appreciate that you asked for clarification.

Labs: The majority of the class periods will have an associated laboratory exercise. Typically, this exercise will provide an application of the day's lecture and will involve developing software or installing hardware on the embedded system platforms in the lab. Laboratories will be graded on their successful completion. A student must complete all of the laboratory assignments as they build upon one another.

Quizzes: A quiz will be held during the last class of each week. (Summer 2003 will have a quiz every Thursday.) These quizzes will cover the material covered in the lectures and laboratories for the previous week (since the previous quiz). The quiz will be given during the first ten or fifteen minutes of class. If you are late and miss the quiz, you will be unable to make it up.

Project: The laboratories are designed to take the student through the process of developing a full embedded system on an Intel-based platform provided by the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. The student is expected to use this process and platform to develop a working embedded system prototype design of his or her own.

This project acts as a culmination of the student's design and debugging abilities. In addition to the actual design, development, and testing of a system using the Linux O/S and the Intel motherboard, the project includes:

• Project proposal - a one page proposal on what the student team plans to do for a project for this course. (Only submit one proposal per team.) The proposal needs to include at least one paragraph describing the project, any equipment or parts the team anticipates they will need for the project along with costs (the team members will be responsible for the cost of equipment or parts not available from the CSCI Department), any difficulties the team anticipates, and a list of project responsibilities along with the team member who will be responsible for that item;
• Design review/presentation - a ten minute discussion with the class about the progress of the group's design including any problems encountered;
• Final presentation - a formal presentation on the successful design and operation of the system; and Final report - the system design documentation including detailed schematics and program flowcharts, a description of troubleshooting procedures, an operator's guide, and the laboratory logbook or notebook.

A small amount of class time will be dedicated to the design and debugging of the design projects. The student, however, will need to utilize the open lab hours to complete the majority of the project.

The table below presents the portion of the project grade and the due date for each of the project components with an added component evaluating the complexity and success of the team's project. The complexity and success also evaluates whether the project works and how closely its operation fulfills the original project description.

Remember that the only way an engineer can be effective is if they can communicate their ideas well. If the student's final project report does not communicate well, it will show up in their final grade as well. This includes the taking of detailed engineering notes as the project progresses. A team's engineering notes should detail the design process including problems, solutions found to overcome the problems, any decisions to vary from the original design, and reasons to support the design modifications.

Make-up work: Make up work will be given for authorized university activities only if a student presents suitable documentation (evidence) explaining the absence to the instructor prior to the scheduled assignment time. The instructor reserves the right to disapprove any explanations for absences presented without prior notice and not provide the opportunity for a make-up work. Students knowing they will be absent from an announced quiz because of personal or business reasons are required to inform the instructor before the absence. A make-up quiz may be given early in some cases.

Quizzes may include any material covered in lectures, assigned readings, or
exercises even if the material was not covered directly in lecture.

Academic Integrity: Student-teacher relationships are built on trust. For example, students must trust that teachers have made responsible decisions about the structure and content of the course, and teachers must trust that work submitted by a student was indeed done by the student. Acts which violate this trust undermine the educational process and are inconsistent with our very reason for being at ETSU.

You are encouraged to discuss the material, assignments, and other issues addressed in the course with members of the class and others. Helping one another find and understand problems in assignments is permitted as long as an honest individual attempt has been made to solve the problem. Everyone, however, must do his or her own work. Completing an assignment "by committee" and submitting it as an individual work is academic misconduct unless the assignment has been clearly designated as a team assignment. Your name on submitted work is an affirmation that the work is yours.

The following is taken from section 5.7 "Academic Misconduct" of the East Tennessee State University Faculty Handbook, June 1, 2001:

"Academic misconduct will be subject to disciplinary action. Any act of dishonesty in academic work constitutes academic misconduct. This includes plagiarism, the changing of falsifying of any academic documents or materials, cheating, and the giving or receiving of unauthorized aid in tests, examinations, or other assigned school work. Penalties for academic misconduct will vary with the seriousness of the offense and may include, but are not limited to: a grade of 'F' on the work in question, a grade of 'F' of the course, reprimand, probation, suspension, and expulsion. For a second academic offense the penalty is permanent expulsion.

"Plagiarism is defined as follows by Black, Henry Campbell, Black's Law Dictionary, West Publishing Company, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1968 (p. 1308): 'The act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one's own mind.'

"Moreover, 'To be liable for plagiarism it is not necessarily to exactly duplicate another's literary work it being sufficient if unfair use of such work is made by lifting of substantial portion thereof, but even an exact counterpart of another’s work does not constitute ‘plagiarism’ if such counterpart was arrived at independently' (O’Rouke vs. RKO Radio Pictures, D. C., Mass., 44F. Supp. 480, 482, 483)."

Special Accommodations: Students with needs for note taking or test taking accommodations should make arrangements with the instructor during the first week of the term.

Snow/ice: Classes are seldom canceled; use your better judgment if main roads are snow-covered or icy. Please listen to the radio if there is any doubt about early morning classes being canceled or delayed.

Use of CSCI Laboratories:The CSCI laboratories are to be used only for work pertaining to CSCI courses. You may not work the Gilbreath labs for other freshman and sophomore level computer science classes. Failure to abide by this policy may result in the removal of your lab privileges which likely will result in a failing grade.

Food, drinks, and tobacco products: Food, drinks, and the use of tobacco products of any type are never permitted in any of the labs. In addition, no tobacco products of any type may be used inside the building.

Please make sure to see the syllabus attachment provided by the Office of the Registrar regarding key dates and other information.